Complete make over of our new family boat in the works

[WISHBONE]

Hello everybody, my name is Robert but my nickname has been WISHBONE sense I joined the Fire Department over 15 years ago. This is our first small boat or JON boat as you will.

I purchased this boat from a co-worker last week for $500. It came with the boat, 3.3 HP Mariner motor, and a 40 Thrust Minn Kota trolley motor. I had a brand new Minn Kota Trolley motor with a Interstate Deep Cell battery.

I know very little about this boat, make, year, and model? I do know the measurements only because I took them myself. It is a 1432 for sure. I looked all over on here as well as the web and could not find a single jon boat that looked just like mine! I did read that jon boats such as mine that come with three bench seats are old and rare, if that is true maybe somebody can pipe in and let me know.

I sure would like to have purchased a much bigger boat but there are good reasons why I had to go with this size. We have a 2007 Niagara Pop Up that we use to go camping and my PILOT tows it with no problem. But when I sold the canoe, I had to get something I could load on top of the pop up so when we go camping we can take it with us.

I am definitely going to do all of the conversions on this boat to make it ours and look great on the water as well as functional.
Things I am going to do is put platforms in, lights, storage boxes, seats, a small live well, and definitely a fish finder and front mount trolley motor.
My dilemma here is of course the width of the boat is 32 inches so the decks are going to have to be low as I have read on here countless times. I also need to make some sort of loading system to put it up on top of the pop up, much to ponder about that one. I have a lot of pictures and will be posting as we go along here. If anybody wants to give feed back as well as throw in their ideas I am up for it.

Just a little background on me. I built race cars when I was young till I went into the FD. I was a professional welder in the military as well as doing all aspects of carpentry work. However I am limited on my welding due to lack of equipment. Long story but my friends drug my welder down the highway ouch.

If anybody knows what I have please chime in, and thanks for looking at our family boat.

Here is the boat at my co-workers house before it was picked up.

Here the boat is at my house and I was able to look over it with a fine tooth picking tool.

Here is the motor which I am going to service completely as well as change out the water cooler.

Surprise surprise, look what I found under that tar of paint. It is one nasty hole that I am going to have to attend to. Looks like I am going to have to take the boat down to my friends shop and tig it up nice and smooth. When I get done with it, it will be stronger then the medal around it.

Ok the boat had this paint on it that was like herculiner but it was not that rough on the bottom. After investigating I started to find all the hidden treasures on the boat. It was full of fiberglass patches on just about every rivet. Not to mention the boat was missing rivets. I purchased the rivet punch tool kit as well as solid buck rivets to redo the entire bottom. I have the compressor and the air hammer tool. I took of every bit of fiberglass and I am going to repaint the entire boat.

Ok here is after using Jaeco paint remover for the third time around and wow there is still paint under that coat too.

We have now purchased the lumber and other accessories needed for the build. Hmmm, I wonder what WISHBONE has in store for the group? Stay tuned, we are in the middle of a complete overhaul!

 

[bobberboy]

I built up a 1236 with the intention of putting it on top of my camper. In the end I never did because I fish a lot more than I camp. I worried about the weight of the boat for getting it up on the camper but also the weight of the boat on the camper itself. If you're interested you can look in my Lowe 1236 thread and see what I did.

Too bad about the surprises under the paint - looks like a lot more work than you figured but the project's half the fun.

 

[perchin]

Geez.... well, you will surely be happy to be done with the paint removal. I'm not so sure that jon boats with only three seats are all that rare though... I've had two of em myself, a meyers 1436, and an old sears 1232. I will say that I have never seen a jon with only 1 support rib, so maybe it is kinda rare. If you remove any of the bench seats you'll for sure need to add some supports for the sides. I'm looking forward to seeing your build, as I too still have my old meyers and have often thought about using it just for camping.

 

[Troutman3000]

Anxious to see this one play out.

 

[WISHBONE]

I built up a 1236 with the intention of putting it on top of my camper. In the end I never did because I fish a lot more than I camp. I worried about the weight of the boat for getting it up on the camper but also the weight of the boat on the camper itself. If you're interested you can look in my Lowe 1236 thread and see what I did.

Too bad about the surprises under the paint - looks like a lot more work than you figured but the project's half the fun.

Yes, I agree with you on the weight limit of the pop up. The bigest problem is the axle rating which I intend to keep under the axles limit. As for the top of the camper it can hold a lot more weight then people think! The consideration of weight distribution between loading gear,food,equipment iin the trailer.

The biggest problem that we have to look into is getting it up and down as well as after we get to the acmping spot getting itto the water with some sort of wheel and hitch attachment. I am checking into the laws for Arizona to see if I can double tow?Hmmm

 

[WISHBONE]

Geez.... well, you will surely be happy to be done with the paint removal. I'm not so sure that jon boats with only three seats are all that rare though... I've had two of em myself, a meyers 1436, and an old sears 1232. I will say that I have never seen a jon with only 1 support rib, so maybe it is kinda rare. If you remove any of the bench seats you'll for sure need to add some supports for the sides. I'm looking forward to seeing your build, as I too still have my old meyers and have often thought about using it just for camping.

You couldn't say that again, one more treatment of the paint removal should take her down to all aluminum. As for the one support rib, I agree as well. Tim my partner in crime on this project are lookiing into the structural integrity of the boat and feel we need to beef up the transom heavily and maybe add some support for the side walls. For some reason the transom just feels flimsy. I did take out all the bad wood in the back under the bracing and plan on beefing it up without adding too much weight.

I will be posting a lot more pictures tonight after we start ripping some wood. Now if those solid rivets would get here that would be awesome.

 

[jackinok]

looks like a typical old jon boat,its amazing how much abuse these things get!should be a fairly easy fix except for the crack.A little advice if I may as a old time cartopper.keep it as light as possible.carpet laid on the floor will save a lot of weight over decking.transom boards have been replaced,make it wider,theres a brace on side where it originally was to show you how wide to make it,and make it tall enough to fit bottom of transom brace,it will be plenty strong.
Nearly all the side strength of that boat comes from the top rail, seats add a little strength to sides on those but mostly add a lot to the bottom.( notice its cracked in front of the seat from being beached).
If I were going to put it on top of a popup I would build a removable frame down to bumper in back and trailer frame in front for it to set on.Your top may hold it but it wont last long when your boat starts rubbing ( and it will regardless of how you tie it).A roller in back makes it 100% easier to load,with a frame in front you can even add a winch to run over frame in front and back and winch it on just like a boat trailer,except upside down.Add winch tie points to BACK of front deck or even better yet hook to oarlock sockets if equiped,run winch strap over front brace,over back brace and down to tie points.as you winch it up bow will come over back frame and since its pulling from back on boat winch cable will keep boat off top as it slides forward.when it gets to front frame bow may have to be lifted some but normally they will slide right over.winch then can be used to hold front down.and by making your stands removable they wont be in way of slide outs.Hope this helps!

 

[WISHBONE]

looks like a typical old jon boat,its amazing how much abuse these things get!should be a fairly easy fix except for the crack.A little advice if I may as a old time cartopper.keep it as light as possible.carpet laid on the floor will save a lot of weight over decking.transom boards have been replaced,make it wider,theres a brace on side where it originally was to show you how wide to make it,and make it tall enough to fit bottom of transom brace,it will be plenty strong.
Nearly all the side strength of that boat comes from the top rail, seats add a little strength to sides on those but mostly add a lot to the bottom.( notice its cracked in front of the seat from being beached).
If I were going to put it on top of a popup I would build a removable frame down to bumper in back and trailer frame in front for it to set on.Your top may hold it but it wont last long when your boat starts rubbing ( and it will regardless of how you tie it).A roller in back makes it 100% easier to load,with a frame in front you can even add a winch to run over frame in front and back and winch it on just like a boat trailer,except upside down.Add winch tie points to BACK of front deck or even better yet hook to oarlock sockets if equiped,run winch strap over front brace,over back brace and down to tie points.as you winch it up bow will come over back frame and since its pulling from back on boat winch cable will keep boat off top as it slides forward.when it gets to front frame bow may have to be lifted some but normally they will slide right over.winch then can be used to hold front down.and by making your stands removable they wont be in way of slide outs.Hope this helps!

Jackinok,

Thank you so much for your advice and wisdom. I am trying to get a pricture in my head to your loading and unloading of the boat on top of the pop up. I do have a winch that is brand new that I can incorporate and was thinking along the same lines as you. Would you be so kind to draw it out on a piece of paper and load it up on here so I can see your problem solving skills in clearer view? Of course critical dimentions are not important right now just the concept. As for the transom, I agree with you, it is not like this particular jon boat is going to be able to go warp speed or hold a big motor on it, that wasn't the point of it. But I do want it as sound as possiable. Thanks

 

[Sader762]

You definately don't see too many jons with 3 seats. My 1959 del Mar has 3 seats and it's a 1436. I'll be redoing it later in the summer with pics of course. Interested to see how yours turns out.

 

[jackinok]

I am ashamed to admit I have no clue as how to post a picture here! basically think of two pipes welded in a "T" one set on front of trailer ,one on back.winch sets on lower leg of front t.cable runs over crosspiece of the t front and back,under front of upside down boat,to a Y cable that attaches to oarlock sockets.when you pick up on cable front of boat will raise,slide over back t,since you still have weight of boat on cable it will keep cable tight and when boat breaks over center it will hold it off trailer.when you get front of boat to t on front of trailer it will continue to slide since end of winch cable is pulling more to the rear.I dont know how to explain it any better i'm afraid,do a web search for automatic boat loader there are several different ones using the same basic principal.some load from side and some from rear ,mine is just a poor boy version!lol

 

[WISHBONE]

Ok, we made some progress tonight and have an update with pictures for everybody to see. Tim and his 20+ years owning his own contracting business in California and Arizona has a unique style in how he wants things to look. He has also built a couple of boas in his tool box as well. A man that takes care and pride in his work like I do and value him as a really close friend.

Of course my carpentry skills are top notch, they do not compare to Tims workmanship and attention to detail uderneith evertything. So after looking at hudreds of rebuilds of some really awesome boats on here, I presented my case to Tim in a couple of different designs that I thought would work for the boat with weight being a real big factor.

So Tim gave me some of those old Italian stares with his eyes and said no, scratch those, I have a much better idea and we can save a lot of headache without building sub frames that cause more work,screws, glue, and possiability for more things to go wrong not to mention the weight factor.

So this was his idea to go with 1 1/8 inch hardwood veneer flooring. all I can say is this stuff is behond solid. I was standing on top of the floor and there was no give at all. We built the back transom as the origionaly designed using the origional hole placements. All I have left to do back there is add the 1/8 medal plate and Thompsons water seal it, locktight gasket seal the bolts to the transom and whamo that part is done. We are going to work on the front deck tomorrow morning and will be adding the hatches as well as configuring the battery box, hinges and carpenting. Let me kow what you guys think so far?

 

[Froggy]

Thats some real craftmanship there! also a lot of weight, as a family boat I assume you will add kids and a lady no? I gotta be honest, that might not be too safe moving around. definitly do some test runs.

 

[Brine]

This has been a great thread to read.

Sounds like you started this mod off by removing 20lbs worth of paint/fiberglass/whatever else was on there, and the transom looks rock solid now.

My concern isn't so much the added weight of what you've put in the boat, but the height of your deck in relation to the width of your boat having 3 people in it. Like Froggy said, I think I would load up the fam and take a trip to the lake (assuming you've fixed the tear in the bottom) and test it out before you invest in the rest of the build. If you're planning on having a similar deck at the bow, you could just stand on the front bench, and have the fam in the back.

 

[WISHBONE]

You guys are on top of it very smart. Yes this boat will be toting the kids and Momma. By doing it this way we shaved off around 60 lbs from doing the foundational work route needed for the 3/4" ply to work effectively. As you can see from the pictures there is only one 2X4 up at the bow for structural reasons, but other then that all you have is the sheet of plywood laying on the deck. Compared to our canoe which was half the width and same length, it was really tipsy for the family for sure.

But if you look in the middle where there will not be a deck, I am going to have a bench seat that allows the kids to be below the waterline bringing the weight of the keel line lower in the water. I have some other things left to fabricate and build but I dont want to spill the beans as to what I am doing yet. There is just something about pictures that seems to gain the attention over words.

Once we have the boat set up the next part of the project is the trailer/rack mount on my pop up that you see in the background. So I will be doing the same right up and pictures for that phase of the project. Stay tuned my fellow shipmates this fabricator is about to kick it up acouple of notches.

 

[WISHBONE]

Ok everybody here are some updated pictures of what I have ben working on this past week. I have been swamped with all of the holidays and family birthday party's. If you have any questions let me know?

 

[MallardAddict]

I have no idea how to go about attatching one to a pop-up trailer, but a buddy has an Eide Boatloader on his canopy that works slick as hell. It sounds like you have extensive welding/fabrication skill so im betting you can make a removeable frame on your trailer that operates much the same.

https://www.boatloader.com/

As to the front trolling motor does it have to have a foot control or is tiller control acceptable. Reason i ask, is it sounds like you have two tiller type trolling motors. If you fab a bracket/mount on the front you can utilize one of them for that purpose in about 5 minutes time.

If you remove the screws from the bottom side of the top cover it will come off. There is typically a pin and nut in there that stops the head from rotating independent of the shaft. Remove pin and nut rotate head 180 degrees, reinstall pin and nut. You now have a bow mount trolling motor.

 

[WISHBONE]

I was looking at a couple of those sites and I think I can incorporate one of these loaders for my application. I cant believe there is not a market for loading boats on top of our pop ups, thats crazy. HMMMM gets my creative juices flowing for sure.